revenue adequacy

STB presses on with small rate dispute proceeding

The Surface Transportation Board has denied a request by rail shipper groups to temporarily suspend a rulemaking proceeding on whether a voluntary arbitration program for small rate disputes should be established.

But the board has asked the Class I railroads to indicate whether they plan to consent to rate case arbitration if revenue adequacy is taken into account, STB announced Wednesday.

STB’s decision, available here, also modifies the deadline for how long comments can be received on this...

https://www.freightwaves.com/news/stb-presses-on-with-small-rate-case-dispute-proceeding

Could autonomous trucks in dedicated lanes someday kill rail?

A photograph of a train traveling across a barren mountain range.

Although decades away, the deployment of autonomous trucks in truck-only lanes could potentially be the death knell for the freight railroads should the railroads do nothing to ensure their relevance, an economist said during a recent panel on legacy of the Staggers Rail Act and the Motor Carrier Act.

The Surface Transportation Board (STB) “is going to be regulating a graveyard. There’s a good chance that rail won’t survive once we start moving to autonomous vehicles,” said Clifford Winston,...

https://s29755.pcdn.co/news/could-autonomous-trucks-someday-kill-rail

Surface Transportation Board seeks input on class exemption methods

A photograph of grain hopper cars traveling on some railroad track. There is a mountain range in the distance.

The Surface Transportation Board (STB) is seeking input on a new approach that looks at how it considers class exemption and revocation issues.

The board’s request came a day before it declared that five of the seven Class I railroads were revenue adequate for 2019.

Shippers for commodities such as forest products and scrap recycling have sought for their exemptions to be lifted so that the STB has greater oversight over them. These shoppers say that lifting the exemptions would give them  access...

https://s29755.pcdn.co/news/surface-transportation-board-seeks-input-on-class-exemption-methods